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It is worthy of note to point out something that family members who have been adversely affected by the alcoholism of another family member apparently do not grasp. It seems that by protecting the alcohol addicted individual with falsehoods and deceitfulness to those outside the family, these well-intentioned family members have essentially created a circumstance that makes it easier for the alcohol dependent person to continue and move forward with his or her injurious, destructive lifestyle.
Indeed, rather than helping the alcoholic and themselves, these family members have basically become enablers who have mistakenly helped negatively affect the alcohol dependent individual’s drinking problem even more.
The Chances of a Relapse are Real
Another key alcohol dependency issue concerns alcohol relapses. Relapses take place when an alcohol addicted individual has fruitfully gone through alcoholism rehab and then resorts to drinking a number of weeks or months later. At first thought, this situation flies in the face of common sense and seems so doubtful that it forces a person to speculate why anyone who has lived through the horrors of alcohol addiction can return to drinking a short while after successful alcohol treatment and in turn after achieving sobriety. There are, without a doubt, more than a few rational reasons for this.
It should be pointed out, nonetheless that alcohol addiction research that has focused on the enduring effects of alcohol addiction has shown that long after the alcohol dependent person has stopped his or her drinking, key transformations in the way in which the alcohol dependent person’s brain operates are still present. As a result, all a recovering alcohol addicted person has to do to involve himself or herself in actions that correspond with the transformations that have come about in the brain is to engage in drinking again.
The Need for A Drastic Lifestyle Modification
There are additional reasons why more than a few recovering alcohol addicted individuals return to drinking a few weeks or a few months after reaching sobriety. In accordance to the alcohol addiction research literature, to make an effective recovery, the alcohol addicted individual needs new ways of reacting and thinking in order to deal more efficiently with tough alcohol-related situations that will take place.
Situations such as returning to the same alcohol addictive environment or to the same geographic location; interacting once again with friends from the time when the alcohol dependent individual was drinking irresponsibly; or familiar songs, smells, or activities—all of these circumstances can bring about memories that can prompt psychological stress or push hot buttons that influence the recovering alcohol dependent person to engage in abusive drinking once again. Sadly, all of these situations may not only contradict enduring alcohol recovery for the alcoholic but they can also result in relapse and thus counteract one’s sobriety.
Conclusion
In an attempt to “protect” the family alcohol addicted individual, family members can in point of fact cause inadvertent destruction by enabling the unsafe drinking behavior of the alcohol dependent person.
The substance abuse research literature validates the fact that most people who successfully complete alcohol treatment go through at least one relapse. Alcohol addicted individuals and their family members need to know this so that they do not get defeated or overwhelmed when a relapse manifests itself.
Happily, participation in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and follow-up counseling and training have resulted in more productive, long-term alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency rehab results, have helped decrease alcohol relapses, and have helped recovering alcohol dependent persons accomplish lasting alcohol recovery.
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